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Why do we love today’s bride so much? Oh, it could be her effervescent coolness, her perfectly angelic Jenny Yoo wedding gown, but the fact that she popped the question to her groom is probably our top reason. Jessica and Brock didn’t want their wedding day to be reliant upon tradition and instead carved out their own little slice of wedding day heaven thanks to the talents of Celine Kim and Coriander Girl!

From the bride, Jessica: Brock and I are not traditionalists by any means. In fact, I proposed to him (why should the boys have all the fun anyway?)! After we got engaged, what surprised me most was how quickly the wedding planning begins. We were asked about our wedding date the day we got engaged! It is so fun to let yourselves get swept up by everyone’s collective excitement and enthusiasm.

The hardest part of wedding planning was definitely choosing the right location. I am from Montreal, Brock is from Toronto and we met in Kingston, Ontario, so we knew friends and family would have to travel no matter where we chose. I began my searching in both Montreal and Toronto. I dreamed of an ultra modern wedding in an all-white loft or gallery but quickly found out that this was not the most economical decision. Being lovers of food, we looked into restaurants who held weddings but they did not feel right with our larger than expected guest list. I had never considered a hotel for our wedding but The Thompson surprised us! The whole rustic country-wedding thing is so not us. We are both city kids and wanted to be in an urban location. Nothing highlighted the beauty of the city quite like the view from The Thompson’s patio. I worried about the dark ballroom but we just could not resist having the city behind us as we exchanged our vows. I am so happy with our choice! It was so nice to have the food, drinks, linens, etc be handled by a team professionals and this allowed me to focus on the details of our day. Another very important detail was that the hotel was dog friendly so Jackson, our dog, was allowed to be a part of our day and he acted as our ring bearer!! The Thompson did a great job, we have only received positive feedback from our guests and I ended up loving the romantic look of the dark ballroom and the contrast it provided from our bright ceremony.

Brock and I decided to have a wedding to be able to celebrate our love with our friends and family. It was not only our day! Throughout the planning process, we thought deeply about our guests’ experience at our wedding. We considered the weddings we had attended and discussed what we really liked and disliked as guests. This informed several major decisions. A good example was our photo slideshow. My bridesmaid, MJ, made us an amazing slideshow and we wanted to share it with everyone but there were several photos and we knew that making everyone watch the whole thing during our reception would not be fun. Let’s be honest looking at your old baby pictures is not everyone’s idea of a good time. We were lucky to have a screening room included in our wedding rental at The Thompson and so we played the slideshow in a loop in that room all night. Aside from letting everyone enjoy the slideshow at their own pace this also offered an alternate environment to our guest where they could just sit and relax. It was fun to periodically enter the screening room and see different faces in there every time!

I loved every detail of our wedding but two of my favourites were our table names and having Polaroid cameras with our guestbook. For the table names, Brock and I decided to have names of locations in our favourite films and TV shows. We worked on the list of names for weeks, researching the correct names and considering what films and TV shows to include. It was such a personal touch and really reflected our love for pop culture. For our guestbook, I had envisioned everyone signing the book and nicely leaving a cute little Polaroid of themselves next to their note but I got something way better! Thanks to our open bar, our guestbook is one of the funniest things I have ever seen and I still laugh every time I look through it. Everyone had a blast with the Polaroid cameras and I am so happy I bought way too much film to enable any late night photo inspirations. The guestbook has become the most meaningful keepsake of our day.

Finally, the best part of the wedding day was actually taking pictures alone with Brock and our photographers. I had originally not wanted a reveal and hoped to wait to see Brock until I walk down the aisle. I am so happy Celine, our amazing photographer, suggested we consider a reveal. Our reveal was one of the sweetest moments ever and getting ample time to take photos afterwards was such a gift. The wedding day itself is so crazy, I was grateful for those peaceful moments alone with Brock even though they were in front of the camera. It allowed Brock and I to connect before our vows and let us really take in what we were about to embark on together. It also helps that our photography team was calm, fun and so easy to be around. Brock and I are still over the moon about the wedding. There were so many personal touches that made the day extra special. We still talk about it often and reflect on the many great moments but the best part is hearing how much our friends and family enjoyed themselves as we really did see it as their day too.